Needing to be up promptly I’d told the Alexa to sound an
alarm at seven o’clock. It made a rather strange noise. Personally I prefer the
sound of my phone telling me (quite literally) to get my arse out of its
pit.
I got up, did my packing, generally got in the way of
everyone else trying to do their packing, and it wasn’t long before we were
saying our goodbyes and heading homewards.
As we set off I looked at the clock. Usually at that time
on a Saturday morning we would have been finishing up at Dog Club and trying to
work out what the year was on Steve’s mystery year competition on the radio. It
was a shame that Radio Ashford doesn’t broadcast as far as Cambridgeshire; we tried
to get the on-line version but the internet signal was patchy at best.
As we drove southwards down the motorways we looked at
amazement at the miles of stationary traffic trying to head northwards; we were
right to have made an early start last week.
We got home and were soon unloaded (if not unpacked),
and it
wasn’t long before we worked out that “er indoors TM” had left a
bag of shoes at the holiday cottage. Woops! Mind you I was very pleased to hear
her saying that it was her fault and she should have checked; I did check the
utility room where she’d left them and clearly I didn’t check the right
cupboards.
I
had a little look in the garden. “My Boy TM” and the rain had
seen that the plants were OK. Most of the pond plants had gone berserk though.
The big pond was amazingly clear; I’m convinced that my theory about plants in
a pond is a good one. Sadly the filter in the little pond had blocked up. It
does that with annoying regularity. A couple of days I’d seen a photo of the
thing on one of the pond-related Facebook groups asking if it was any good. The
general consensus is that it makes for a good fountain, but as a filter it
needs too much cleaning.
But
it didn’t take that long to clean out, and once I’d run round with the lawn
mower I cleaned the filter of the big pond too. For all that the plants in the
big pond had gone berserk, the punnet of watercress I’d chucked in a couple of
weeks ago hadn’t really taken off, so as “er indoors TM” went
shopping I asked her to get another bag of the stuff.
I put a week’s worth of undercrackers into the washing
machine. It had had a week off; back to the grind for it. And then I had a
little pootle in the garden planning the extension to the bog filter. I’ve got
a length of drainpipe to protect my inlet (oo-er!) and probably enough
shingle to make a base. All I need are some large cobblestones and the plants.
If any of my loyal readers have any spare large cobblestones they don’t want, I’m
your man. And if anyone could identify the plant with yellow flowers in the
piccie above I’d be very grateful. The obvious place to ask would be one of the
Facebook pond-related pages; my post I awaiting approval but I suspect that just
asking what a plant is will be enough to kick off several rather bitter arguments.
As I type this, all three dogs are snoring. We’ve had a
good week away but it has been very full-on for them. They are worn out, poor
things. As am I…
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